LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9625, 18 October 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest return from the Worksop Dredge is 31 ounces ldwfc for 124 hours.

It is understood that a stock buyer, representing one of the strongest freezing comoanies in the Dominion, is to be located in tbo Wairarapp..

In connection with the Congregational Sunday School Anniversary, there will be a public meeting tonight, at 7.30 o'clock. Rev. D. Hird, M.A., of Palmerston North, will address the meeting, and scholars and adults will contribute songs and recitations.

At a maeting of the Friendly Societies' Council, held on Saturday nieht, the proposed Wairarapa Friendly Societies' Picm? was fur> ther discussed. It was decided to hold {he Picnic at Pigeon Bush on Boxing Day. if possible, <inrf that the Railways Deparfment be written to, asking them to provide a special train from Masterton on that date. A Meeting of Masterton, Carterton, and Lower Valley delegates will be held at Carterton on Saturday next, 23rd inst, to make the arrangements, and appoint the various committees. Judging by the way the matter has been taken up the phniu promises to be a big supers.

The Masterton Homing Pigeon Club j will hold, next Thursday, a race from Taihape, when a large number j of birds will compete.

Special services were held at the Kuripuni Methodist Church yesterday, being conducted by gMr A. J. Minifie. j

The average lambing in the Ashburton dislrKt tins season is estimated to oe between 115 and 120 per cent.

A petition in favour of forming a rabbit board for Poverty Bay had, up to Saturday morning last, been signed by 335 stock-owners. The number of signatures required in order to make the petition operative i ■ 347, but it was anticipated that tie full number would be obtained bef ire the week closed. The anniversary services of the Congregational Sunday School were held yesterday, Rev. D Hird, M A , of Palmerston North, preached appropriate sermons in the morning afternoon and evening. The special singing by the children was a feature and thoroughly appreciated by Die con gregation on each occasion.

Those who have neen responsible for the naming ot the localities and streets in the Uonvillc district seem to have had a penchant for the names of native trees. In addition to Ngaio Range and Tawhero township, Maori nomenclature is found in the following streets: Kornmiko, Matipo, Tawa, Konini, Totara, Poriri, Rimu and Matai. A copy of th first issue of the "Dannevirke Evening News," published on Saturday last, is to hand. It consists of no less than twelve pages, and is a highly creditable production in various ways. The residents of Dannevirke and district will have every reason to be pleased with the "News," if the sxcellent standard of the first issue is maintained. We wish our contemporary success.

Whilst a motor load of Feilding sports were returning from the Otaki races they ran over and killed a dog owned by a Palmerston drover. The motorists refused to stop when called on, and the drover, who was on horseback, galluped up and, it is stated, lashed the driver of the car with his whip. He secured the names of the occupints and the number of the car, and a prosecution is expected to follow.

"Sterilise the cow, and the milk will take care of itself." This theory inspired Mr Kelsey, of the School of Experimental farming in Cincinnati, owner of £15,000 worth of Jerseys, who declare?, in a report published in New York, that he has largely increased the quantity and quality ot his milk, because the cows are bathed every day, their teeth ate cleaned with a brush three times daily, and during the hot weather the animals are protected by linen coats, which keep off the flies and mosquitos. and prevent them being worried.

At the to-night, at 7.30, will be brought up important matters, relative to the well-being of the Association. -It is considered that the Association is not receiving the support it deserves, particularly from its own membership. Its honorary membership list is a very "small one —and one certainly, not large enough for a work of this kind. .Furthermore, it is now hampered because of its inadequate machinery, and does not provide for the would-be members all that it should. The meeting to-night will deal with extension of premises, finance and work in general, and every one connected with the Association is expected to attend.

The Masterton Homing Club held a race from Blenheim on Saturday last- the first over sea one on the programme. The birds were liberated by Mr A. Sowrnan, at 11 a.m., I who had telegraphed previously "weather fine, light south-east, wind." However, the birds must have met with rough weather crossing the Straits, as only two birds "clocked in - ' on Saturday, arriving here at 3.12 p.m. A number strugged home yesterday, but the number still away bears silent witness of the severe weather encountered. The following is the result Mr Joseph Dixon's "Berenice," velocity 687 yrds per ttiinutp, 1; Mr J. Bradbury's "Rotherham," velocity 684 yards per minute, 2; Mr E. Flanagan's "Mascot " 3. Messrs H. M. Wilton and J. A. Syverston acted as judges.; 1 An Auckland baker has, by royal command of His Majesty King George 11. of Tonga, designed and built a cake for the coming nuptials of that potentate, which' has probably never had its peer in the annals of New Zealand cakes. It is a dazzling creation of sweet and daintily-con-ceived toothsomeness (says the "Star"), measuring 4ft across its base, and standing in its five tiers, surmounted by the crown and bouquet a full eight feet. On the panel of the lowest tier are the initials of the King himself, and on the successive tiers appear the bride's initials, the facsimile of the Tongan crown, the Tonga coat-of-arms, and the King's coat-of arm?. The .whole fabric weighs 5001b, and is a revelation in the art of building wedding cakes. The identity of the lady upon whom the King's choice has fallen is being kept a strict palace secret, even to the extent of veiling her initials from the vulgar eyes that gaze on the cake in the baker's window.

Yesterday being the day appointed by the New Zealand Conference as Young People's Day, a special children's service was held in the Methodist Church in the morning. The day was kept by almost all the churches throughout the Dominion as a day "on which special addresses should be given to children, young, men, an.l young worn'ti. The rough weather yesterday morning militated somewhat against a attendance of children, but the attendance of adults was, good. The special order of service supplied by the Sunday School Advisory Board, which was used for the service, contained special hymns for the children, and niso the Ten Commandments, and the Scripture reading. The whole congregation repeated the Com-1 mandments, and a verse of Scripture was read alternately by the Minister and the congregation. The I jßev. C. E. Porter occupied the pul- i pit, and dealt very capably on the subject of "The Ministry of Children." The service in the evening, which was also well attended, was conducted by Rev. C. E. Porter, who took for his subject "Esau." During the service, the choir rendered ths anthem "The Day of Penticost."

4 There are only twenty one assisted passengers on board the Kirautaka, due at Wellington next week. Wirth Brothers recently struck a "patch" of bad luck, having last week been mulcted in £I.OOO damages for alleged negligence in connection with; the ;of{their tent at Orange, New South Wales.

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that J. M. Lennox, an Auckland sharebroker, recently adjudicated bankrupt by the National Bank of New Zealand, in connection with an amount of £10,820 which he had guaranteed, is issuing a writ against the bank, claiming £IO,OOO.

A lesson was drawn f'-oti the milfc, yield of the herd at Seacliffe Asylum by Dr Truby King in a lecture at Wellington, He said that in fifteen years the yield had increased from £2OO per year to £2,000. Why? Because all the calves had been properly brought up. They had been gi\etx scope, fresh air, had betn fed regularly, and had not been "coddled." Th 6 herd gave the highest milk yield recorded in trie Dominion, and. perhaps, in the Southern Hemisphere. .

A fatal fire occurred at Clive early on Saturdy morning, the victim being Patrick Keys, an unmarried man about 28 years of age. The deceased's mother was awakened by hearing her son call out, but though she tried to rea'ih his room, she was beaten back by the flames. Help was summoned, but the room by this time was a mass of flame, and rescue was hopeless. Nearly, everything in the house was destroyed. Mrs Keys was severely . scorched. Patrick Keys' body was discovered amongst the debris of the fire. !

A Hawera gardener has secured , what appears [to be a remarkable cross between a tomato and a cape gooseberry, says the "Hawera Siar." Last year these plants grew sid* by side, and upon shelling a certain ; gooseberry the fruit, to all appearances, was a tomato. It may, of course, be a freak, but the grower ia inclintd to regard i: as a genuine cross. If a new blend has been discovered, and the seeds come to anything, something new in the way of jam making fruit may soon be available.

The annual meeting of the Wairarapa Horticultural Society was held at the Secretary's office, Carterton, on Saturday. Thoie was a very fair attendance of members, '"Mr J* Brown, Vice-President, being in the chair. Apologies for unavoidable absence were received from the President, Mr A. Booth, and others. The balance sheet, which showed a slight loss on the year's business, was adopted. The committee and officers of last year were re-elected, and they were accorded & hearty vote of th nks for the wiy they had carried but their duties. It was resolved to hold a Spring Show on the last Saturday in Nsvemher and a programme was drawn up; A farmer residing on the West Coast took a bag containing two hundred and forty pennies to a country post office, with a request for two hundred and forty pennv stamps, the coppers were declined, and the applicah Was requested to tender silver or gold. , He, however, refused to do this, and, opening his bag.of coppers, began shoving them one by one under the counter screen, asking for "a penny Btamp, please." The officials saw no. alternative but to supply the stamps as the individual pennies were tendered. So they gave in.

An incident occurred at Piopio, King Country, last week which serves to show that superstition among the Natives is still unconquered. A Native had a cow which died in calving- After the usual ifc was decided to bury the body. Spades were got to work, but before the grave was completed the diggers had a resr. One of the party, says tne "Chronicle," sat down on the beast, which was not yet cold, and the weight on the body caused the leg of the cow to shift convulsively. The party left the grave in a hurry, and no aumont of argument could persuade them to return and complete the 'burial.

According to a competent Pal lerj ston'North authority there is a very i healthy tone in the stock market at present. There is a great demand, - quite unsatisfied, for ewe hoggata, and that, it is a pretty wide ona is shown by the fact that buyers are in town from as far away as the North Cape. The healthier state of the market is attributed chiefly, if r.ot entirely, to the enormous quantity of lambs sold last year, also to a certain , extent to the advance in the price of frozen mutton at Home, add again to the firmnesi of /the London market. There was no doubt, it was considered, that quantity of frozen mutton sent forward last year had something to dq with the present scarcity in this particular connection. It was anticipated that beefwojltf also rise in sympathy, if the market remains firm at Home.

The pitfalls that beset the path oj the newspaper proprietor are; many and peculiar, and the "Feilding Star** has just had an illustration of the fact. After the recent fire at Hastie's Hotel, Major Venables, one of the boarders, lost a box containing some medals and other valuahles. Anxious to recover his property he inserted an advertisement in the "Star'* asking for the return of the box. The advertisement, which came in late in the afternoon, contained the lice, "No enquiries .will be made,''' apparently a harmless enough promise. The police, however, held differently, sind a prosecution for "attempting to compound a felony" was instituted. A summons was laid under the Justices of the Ptace Act, but when the case came on the Stipendiary Magistrate pointed out that the fine mentioned iu the Act could only be recovered as an ordinary dsrbt, and that' he could nut impose a penalty. By arrangemui t a local resident issued a civil suwrnrng, and the "Star" duly confessed judgment for the amount of the penally (£SO), and there the matter stands. A similar charge was laid against the gentleman who inserted the advertisement, Major Venables, and was dealt wkh in the same way. Commenting on the matter, the "3«tar" says: "It is well that nvvvspaptr proprietor particularly and the public generally should remember that if they want their property returned without any questions being asked they must keep the qualifying clause above quoted out of the ne'vspapar, and save £SO to themselves and*£sQ to the per proprietor."